An attempt to help explain the mysteries and magic that are part and parcel of 'probation'.

Saturday, 12 January 2019

Rory Flies a Kite

In the well tried and tested way of politicians, Rory Stewart has decided to take the risk of being labelled 'soft' by running the idea of a ban on short prison sentences and see what the reaction is from the Tory faithful poring over their weekend Telegraph magazine.

Of course it's precisely this political meddling in criminal justice policy for electoral advantage that got us into the present omnishambles. The idea completely ignores the fact that TR having all-but destroyed the previous gold standard Probation Service means that Magistrates and the public now have little confidence in community alternatives to prison - a situation created by his former party colleague Chris Grayling. This from the BBC website:-

Ministers consider ending jail terms of six months or less

Ministers argue that short jail terms are less effective at cutting reoffending than community penalties. Prisons minister Rory Stewart told the Daily Telegraph that such sentences were "long enough to damage you and not long enough to heal you". If such jail sentences were to be scrapped it is thought it could free up thousands of prison places. Some burglars and most shoplifters are among those who could be spared jail terms under the proposals.

The Ministry of Justice is considering preventing courts from imposing prison terms of less than six months unless the sentence is for a violent crime or a sexual offence. The measure could reduce the prison population by around 3,500, although it would require legislation. In Scotland, a presumption against prison sentences of less than three months is already in place and is due to be extended to 12 months.

Arguing for the need for reform, Mr Stewart told the Daily Telegraph Magazine:

"You bring somebody in for three or four weeks, they lose their house, their job, their family, their reputation. They come (into prison), they meet a lot of interesting characters (to put it politely) and then you whap them on to the streets again. The public are safer if we have a good community sentence... and it will relieve a lot of pressure on prisons."

Since they took up their posts last year, Justice Secretary David Gauke and Mr Stewart have both made it clear they want to reduce the use of short prison sentences. The prison population has doubled in England and Wales since the early 1990s, rising from around 40,000 to more than 80,000 in 2018, official figures show.

Almost two-thirds of prisoners released after sentences of less than 12 months reoffend within a year. More than half of the 86,275 offenders sentenced to immediate custody in England and Wales in 2017 were handed sentences of six months or less, according to a Parliamentary response from Mr Stewart to shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon last month.

An MoJ spokesperson said: "As we have said previously, short sentences are too often ineffective, provide little opportunity to rehabilitate offenders and lead to unacceptably high rates of reoffending. That's why we are exploring potential alternatives, but this work is ongoing and we have reached no conclusions at this time."

21 comments:

It has echoes of Trump's most recent sojourn into chicken/egg philosophy:

Which Medieaval invention came first, the wheel or the wall?

Young Rory is bright, well-intentioned & has been loyal to May, but hamstrung by his Tory ministerial ambition. Maybe he's finally seen the writing on May's wall & given up on any thoughts of being Foreign Secretary?

It is clearly, in practical terms nonsense, but maybe an attempt to signal to sentencers they should attempt to cut total number of prisoners and give the MOJ some room to manoeuvre, if numbers are reduced.

BBC TV news report includes mention of fact total in prison now is double the 1990 figure - which I think was THEN historically low at about 40,000 down from a then top number ever of about 45,000.

Then surely Unpaid Work needs to be revamped and brought up to a new level. As it is the only punitive Community sentence, bring in a proper rehabilitation service along side it, not just a lip service level. Fund the CRC's properly and have them properly monitored so they deliver a better service without looking over their shoulders at the share holder influencs.

I agree but while this lot runnthe 21 Crcs we have no chance . There out of touch and putting too pressure on the units to cost cut . There’s a lot of business up for grabs potentially with this new proposal but in the wrong hands it’s an accident waiting to happen

Who is going to supervise them? There simply is not enough qualified staff to go around, given the number who have left the profession / been made redundant etc. Quality agency staff are as difficult to get hold of as unicorn poop.

Short sentences in my view achieve very little.However, I'm minded to think about unintended consequences that may come from a presumption against short sentences. I remember many years ago a young offenders first sentence of imprisonment had to be six months or under or three years and over.It was a strange law which I believe trapped sentencers and lead to some inappropiate sentences being handed out.However, it's not really the short sentence that's the problem is it? It's what came before its imposition, and what happens afterwards that's the real problem.

TR wrecked the structure, meaning & efficacy of community sentencing. Mags know this. Binding mags' hands to impose non-sentences without defs being represented by a lawyer is not smart. It will merely increase the traffic in digital courts without scope for anything resolution.

The number of rapes, murders and other serious crimes committed by offenders on parole has risen by more than 50% since reforms to probation were introduced four years ago, according to official data that has triggered calls for the government to rethink its plans for another shake-up of the service.

Serious further offence reviews – which take place when a convicted offender under supervision is charged with another serious offence (SFO) – rose from 409 in the year before the 2014 reforms to 627 in the 12 months up to last April.

The new figures for England and Wales – which were shared with Plaid Cymru’s justice spokeswoman, Liz Saville Roberts – come as it emerges that coroners have taken the highly unusual decision to reopen inquests into three people killed by offenders under supervision, a move that is expected to expose systemic flaws in the probation service.

The problems are blamed on former justice secretary Chris Grayling’s reform programme, which saw some probation work outsourced to eight private providers, who were given responsibility for running 21 community rehabilitation companies working with low and medium risk offenders.

“Since the private contracts were let there have been staff cuts of up to 30%, offices have been merged and the quality of supervision has fallen sharply,” said Harry Fletcher of the Victims’ Rights Campaign.

Ian Lawrence, general secretary of the probation union, Napo, said there was a “clear correlation” between the increase and the reforms, which he blamed on increased workloads, low morale and chronic staff shortages which have left the National Probation Service with more than 1,000 vacancies. “There will be further serious offences whatever system you run but we think the fragmentation of the service has been a serious factor in the increase in SFOs,” he said.

A ministry of justice spokeswoman said the reforms “had extended probation supervision to around 40,000 extra offenders each year” and therefore “analysis of the number of offences does not provide a like-for-like comparison”.

The Observer has learned that any lapses in the supervision of serious offenders are set to be examined in court following a decision to reopen inquests into the deaths of three people who were killed by offenders under supervision.

As a result, previously confidential documents, including serious case reviews and risk assessments, will be shared with the victims’ families.

Alex Malcolm, five, died in 2016, after being attacked by Marvyn Iheanacho who was in a relationship with his mother. Iheanacho had been convicted of attacks on previous partners and children. A condition of his supervision was that he was not to be left alone with a child.

Lisa Skidmore was raped and murdered in 2016 by Leroy Campbell, a registered sex offender who was under supervision on probation. A review revealed that six weeks before he killed Skidmore, Campbell had told his probation officer he was having feelings that were “troubling him” and mentioned rape.

Conner Marshall, 18, was beaten to death by David Braddon in south Wales in 2015. Braddon, who had taken a cocktail of drugs and alcohol, had missed eight separate probation appointments in the weeks leading up to the attack.

The coroners have agreed to resume the inquests so that lessons can be learned to prevent future deaths and because, it is argued, the state may have failed in its duty to safeguard the right to life.

Amid signs the system is struggling, the government is ending the contracts for the eight private providers two years early and reducing the number of community rehabilitation companies from 21 to 10. It is also spending £22m improving support for ex-offenders.

Saville Roberts accused the government of “wilfully wrecking the humanitarian principle of rehabilitation” and called for more probation services to be returned to government control. A coalition comprising the probation trade unions, the Probation Institute, the Howard League, the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, and the Centre for Justice Innovation have written to the justice secretary, David Gauke, urging him not to rush into retendering the contracts until a thorough review of the probation service has been conducted.

The agents of the MoJ - and it seems anyone involved in this govt in general - are utterly without shame in their efforts to deny any responsibility for their hapless, reckless, dangerous decision-making. Take the comment from article above:

"A ministry of justice spokeswoman said the reforms “had extended probation supervision to around 40,000 extra offenders each year” and therefore “analysis of the number of offences does not provide a like-for-like comparison”."

Suddenly, in one stroke of a PR spinmeister's Apple 'pen', none of Grayling's "reforms" can be judged because there's no basis for comparison.

And we, the austerity-burdened taxpayer, are paying handsome salaries for these fuckers' bullshit... £100-150k for many of the SPADs, i.e. the unelected shadowy 'special advisors' who prepare this shite then get handed humungus golden goodbyes & 'honours' for their subsequent silence.

Ministers are being warned that a proposal to scrap prison sentences of six months or less will only work if there is more investment in the probation services.

The government says this approach in England and Wales' prisons could reduce overcrowding and re-offending.

It is thought it would free up thousands of prison places.

But the probation officers' union says the partial privatisation of the service needs to be reversed.

About 30,000 offenders - including burglars and most shoplifters - could avoid jail every year under the Ministry of Justice plans.

Sentences for violent and sexual crimes would not be affected by the proposed change, which has been welcomed by prison reform charities as well as trade union Napo.

Ian Lawrence, Napo's general secretary, said while he supported the concept, there was "one important caveat".

He told the BBC the part-privatisation over the past four years had "had a massive impact on service delivery and the ability of our skilled professionals to do exactly what they should be doing".

"Levels of supervision, in many regards, are unsatisfactory," he said. "It's not conducive to proper rehabilitation. It's not cost-effective for the taxpayer.

"And what we need to see is more provision in the community for people to be given the opportunity to turn their lives around."

Offenders could face sanctions such as community sentences if the proposal goes ahead, but no alternative penalties have been confirmed.

Ministers argue that short jail terms are less effective at cutting reoffending than community penalties.

Prisons minister Rory Stewart told the Daily Telegraph that such sentences were "long enough to damage you and not long enough to heal you".

Arguing for the need for reform, Mr Stewart said: "You bring somebody in for three or four weeks, they lose their house, their job, their family, their reputation.

"They come (into prison), they meet a lot of interesting characters (to put it politely) and then you whap them on to the streets again.

"The public are safer if we have a good community sentence... and it will relieve a lot of pressure on prisons."

Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, told the BBC: "We should not be using prison for these people. We should be turning their lives around and giving them support - dealing with their drug addiction, their homelessness - and getting them to make amends for the wrong they have done.

"That's really good for victims, it's good for the taxpayer and it will ease pressure on prisons."

The Prison Reform Trust, which has previously called for a presumption against short prison sentences , welcomed the new proposals.

Peter Dawson, the charity's director, told the Telegraph: "Ministers should be congratulated for having the political courage to start the debate."

In Scotland, a presumption against prison sentences of less than three months is already in place and is due to be extended to 12 months.

More than half of the 86,275 offenders sentenced to immediate custody in England and Wales in 2017 were handed sentences of six months or less, according to a Parliamentary response from Mr Stewart last month.

The prison population has doubled in England and Wales since the early 1990s, rising from about 40,000 to more than 80,000 in 2018, official figures show.

Almost two-thirds of prisoners released after sentences of less than 12 months reoffend within a year.

Politics has become farcical, it risks being, some would argue has become, a soap opera that is a compelling yet disturbing reflection of general decline and inadequacy. My elders assure me it was ever thus. Watching the near absolute incompetence of politicians with regards to Criminal Justice matters and the generally untold misery that has ensured is a national disgrace. My advice to our leading Politicians would be to slow down, progress cautiously. The answers are not to be found in short term machinations, expedient for here today gone tomorrow leaders, but in longer term coherent, argued and evidenced, directions that garner general support.

It's My Blog

Welcome to the wonderful world of probation! These are the personal thoughts of an ordinary probation officer struggling to come to terms with constant change, whilst trying to do a useful job for society. Sadly, change is so often obviously not progress. I am fully aware that my views do not represent official policy of government, my Service or possibly anyone else - but hey - it's my blog!

ATV 1962 Windsor Davies

About Me

A grumpy, disillusioned, CQSW trained, generic, main grade probation officer based in a small English town. All my contemporaries have either left, retired or been promoted. Newer colleagues simply don't understand the journey I've been on from advise, assist and befriend. (If there is anyone of similar name in the NAPO handbook, it's not me).